In many interventional medical procedures we want to reach hollow structures like a blood vessel or a ureter. During these procedures we want to place a catheter or a needle into the hollow structure to have access to it, mostly for therapeutic reasons such as the administration of medication, the placing of a stent or a coil, dilatation and so on. Sometimes access to the aforementioned hollow structures is necessary for diagnostic purposes.
The firm and stable fixation of a catheter into the wall of a hollow structure is essential since the catheter should under no circumstances fall out of the vessel or ‘wander off’ into the vessel. In the human body some hollow structure are embedded in surrounding tissue which enables the catheter to stay in place. This is the case, for example, with the blood vessels in a limb. It is completely different in the thorax, skull, or abdomen, where hollow structure are surrounded by less connective tissue and a catheter can easy slip out or be displaced. To prevent this, the catheter has to be fixated by suturing it to the wall of the vessel, but this is difficult and time consuming.
The present invention, the ASD, can easily be screwed onto the vessel-wall, where it gives a maximum stability and support for the catheter, which can then safely be inserted into the vessel.
Interventional fields include diagnostic procedures that involve the implantation of a catheter or needle; and therapeutic procedures that involve interventions (such as placing a catheter for medication) or that involve surgical operations, laparascopy, possibly in combination with endoscopic procedures.